The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that the Honorable Patricia A. Seitz, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, entered a Judgment of Permanent Injunction and Other Relief Against Defendant Sean T. Healey ("Healey"), restraining and enjoining him from further violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Healey consented to the entry of the judgment without admitting or denying any of the allegations of the Commission's complaint. Further, the Court ordered disgorgement against Healey in the amount of $66,821, prejudgment interest in the amount of $12,358, and a civil penalty in the amount of $66,821.

On September 5, 2000, the Commission alleged in its Complaint that defendants Healey, Rajiv Vohra ("Vohra"), and three Bahamian companies, Lantern Investments, Ltd., Lipton Holdings, Ltd., and Beaufort Holdings, Ltd., used "wash sales" to create the appearance of active stock trading in the stock of New Directions Manufacturing, Inc., a small furniture manufacturing company quoted on the NASD's OTC Bulletin Board system. The Complaint alleged that Healey and Vohra then arranged to have a false and misleading research report published on a stock-picker web site, on their own web site, and through unsolicited mass e-mails ("spam"). The research report falsely claimed that New Directions had significantly expanded, that the author of the report was an independent analyst, and that the purported analyst had issued a buy recommendation. Healey and Vohra attempted to conceal their scheme by conducting much of their activity through Canadian brokerage accounts and the Bahamian companies.